Andrade pushed forward the whole fight, throwing hard punches of her own and winning the flurries on her way to a split-decision win.

The women’s bantamweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC 171 event at American Airlines Center in Dallas. It aired on FOX Sports 1 following additional prelims on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of a main card on pay-per-view.

Andrade came forward early and looked for a takedown. But Pennington held her off and landed a knee to the body before Andrade tied her up. Pennington latched on to Andrade’s neck for a guillotine choke attempt, but she couldn’t finish it. After surviving the choke effort, Andrade threw Pennington for a takedown and tried to go to work from guard. Pennington got back to her feet, but again Andrade dragged her down with a judo throw. Andrade postured up to throw punches, but Pennington threatened with an armbar. She couldn’t hold on, though, And Andrade got to side control, then tried for a guillotine choke. The two scrambled back to their feet, where Andrade landed her third throw of the round.

Both fighters threw bombs early in the second, but Andrade got the best of the punches and Pennington was forced to tie her up, where she landed knees. But just when Pennington threatened with her hands, Andrade again took her down. She popped back up. It was Andrade coming forward, though, even as the two got in close range. A slugfest broke out in the final minute of the round with Andrade getting the best of things until Pennington had a tight guillotine late. But the Brazilian survived.

Pennington swung hard in the third, but Andrade kept pushing forward. Pennington tried to throw knees in tight, but when they separated, Andrade continued to land flurries. Pennington dragged the fight to the ground with 45 seconds left, and then again when Andrade popped back up. The strong finish may have helped her in a close fight – but if so, it wasn’t quite enough.

“It was a really good fight and it was very close,” Andrade said. “For a minute there, I thought I lost it. I’m glad I was able to pull out the win. The choke wasn’t really that tight. Honestly I think she got tired holding onto it so it played to my advantage.”

“I had a tremendous camp, so I have no excuses,” Pennington said. “I’m still growing each fight, and this is a stepping stone in the right direction. I was a little hesitant in the first round, but I think I took over in the second and third. The judges may have given it to her because I was backing up more, but I was also landing cleaner shots.”

Andrade (11-3 MMA, 2-1 UFC) won her second straight fight. Pennington (4-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC) is back in the loss column after a win in her UFC debut in November, and she now has dropped three of her past four.